My Review of "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials"

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is a sequel that came out in 2015. Although it's very beneficial for you to have watched the first Maze Runner movie, I don't think it is totally necessary. This movie feels quite different from the first movie but the relationships that were built in the first movie remain in this movie.

The movie starts off a little after the original movie. The group has been rescued and are now trying to figure things out. There's not too many references to the original movie other than the core group and the fact that the group is figuring out a way to thwart WCKD.

I honestly don't know any humanitarian group that would want to name their organization called WCKD. Everyone in the movie pronounce it as wicked. So WCKD is this large conglomerate with the righteous task of curing this crazy disease that has wiped out the human population on earth. To do this they had to study and obtain samples from children that are immune to the disease. That's where the kids in Maze Runner come in.

They don't really go into the details of why they had to go through the maze in this movie but not a lot of the first movie is referenced in this movie. All we know is that the cure has suddenly made humans into zombies. In the first movie we were worried about all of the creatures in the maze trying to kill them. In this movie we're worried about not only the zombies but the Wicked group trying to get them.

The main protagonist is still Thomas. He still can't remember his past but as the movie progresses we learn more about his past. There are a few new characters to join the group as some of the previous members of the original group had either passed away or put through WCKD's processing plant.

Although this movie has a totally different feel and vibe it still works well as we still have an understanding of the relationship with our original gang. This zombie apocalypse wasn't really what I was expecting but they luckily didn't dive too deep into the zombie apocalypse trope. There are some scenes that show you how lethal the virus is but they're merely a minor note to the rest of the movie.

This movie focuses more on the search for this paradise area where people are able to live freely without the worry of WCKD chasing after them. It's basically a big cat and mouse game with our group and WCKD throughout the movie. Fortunately this comes with a large amount of action scenes.

These action scenes are pretty well done. Although most of it is done in the dark I was able to see a lot of the action. Usually in dimly lit scenes it's hard to distinguish what happens but it's pretty clear what's going on and I have to give them props for that. I also have to give them a higher rating because their set designs are breathtaking. I know a lot of it is CGI but they look pretty seamless throughout the movie.

One of my gripes about this movie and I guess pretty much all movies of dystopian worlds is that everyone is so clean and polished. They all live in a dystopian world where supplies and resources are scarce yet they all have perfectly coifed hair and clean faces. Then again this movie is targeting a young adult audience. I kind of get why they did that rather than go for a little more realism.

I also found a lot of the young adult clichés in this movie where they do weird things just to add to the drama. Although I have to admit they didn't go too deep into the romantic relationship part of this movie. There's a kiss in this movie that kind of gets very awkward later on in the movie when one of the characters claims the other person reminded them of their family member.

Overall, I had fun with this movie. I thought that this was a really well made sequel to the original. I don't know why it took me so long to watch especially since I saw the first movie in the theatres back in 2014. I have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. The plus about waiting so long to watch this movie is that the third movie has already been released. This movie ended off with a cliffhanger and I'll be able to watch it right away.